THE INTRODUCTION OF AN ALTERNATIVE DELIVERY NETWORK OF GOODS TO ALLOW FOR INCREASED OVERALL HUMAN SECURITY AND EFFICIENCY

Recent technological developments, as well as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in the rapid growth of e-commerce and therefore a huge increase in parcels delivered worldwide. Traditional practices fail to meet new requirements and companies seek new approaches to satisfy increased demand and fast-growing customer needs. In this context, the resolving of problems related to the “last mile” (the final delivery stage when goods are handed over to the recipient) became a topic of scientific research, as it involves navigating complex and often unpredictable urban environments, dealing with traffic congestion, and making multiple stops to deliver individual packages to different addresses. This part of the delivery process is considered the most challenging and expensive. The research focused on the introduction of an alternative delivery network, based on the “sharing economy” principles and the use of recent technological tools, such as Blockchain, IoT, etc. The proposed alternative delivery network not only does it addresses some of the operational problems related to the “last mile” but also allows for increased security and transparent monitoring throughout the final leg of the delivery process.